Control mechanism for presses



SePf- 5, 1933 o. w. JoHNsQN 1,925,591

CONTROL MECHANISM FOR PRESSES` Filed Aug. 6, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVE TOR 05am" W @HMSO/v whereby the uppermost end of the bar 14 will normally be drawn inwardly toward the frame 1 to maintain the work receiving padding slide 7 in the out of registry position shown in Fig. 2 in which position a part or all of the garment to be pressed may be applied to the padding slide. A push plate 19 of heat resisting material is mounted on the front member 8 of the padding slide whereby the operator may apply manual pressure to push the slide into position so that vertical movement of the buck will cause pressing engagement of the slide and the stationary head.

The control mechanism is of the two-hand type and consists of control valves 26 and 21 mounted on brackets 22 and 23 secured to the back wall of the stationary ironing chest or head 2. Operation of the control valves 26 and 21 is controlled by levers 24 and 25 pivotally mounted on brackets 26 and 27 with each lever havingr a depending branch 29 engaging the stems 30 of the valves. From their hinged point, the levers extend to the front of the chest 2 and then downwardly and are provided with heat resisting handles 31 and 32.

A main operating valve 33 disposed at the lower rear side of the frame 1, as shown in Fig. '7, comprises an inlet valve 34 and an exhaust valve 35. The valve 34 is provided with an actuating rod 36 and valve 35 with an actu-l ating rod 37, and, when the valve 34 is open and. valve 35 closed, fluid pressure is admitted to the main operating valve through a pipe 33 from whence it passes into a chamber 39 (see Fig.l 6) through an adjustable needle valve 40, into a chamber 41, and thence through open valve 34 into chamber 44 andV then through a connection 42 to the cylinder and piston construction 5. Reversely, a fluid pressure in the press operating cylinder and piston construction is exhausted through the same connection 42 into the chamber 44, and through the open exhaust conduit 45 to the atmosphere, this taking place when the valve 34 is closed and the valve V35 is open as shown in Fig. 7.

To have the Valves 34 and 35 operate in unison so that one is closed when the other is open, the opening and closing of the valves 34 and 35 is controlled by a lever 46 of the walking beam type pivotally mounted as at 47 on a bracket 43. As shown, the operating rods-36 and 37 of the valves 34 and 35 are connected to the lever 46 on opposite sides of theV pivot point 47 thereof as at 49 and 50. Thus, a walking beam effect is provided which will cause one of the valves 34 and 35 to be moved downwardly as the other is moved upwardly or, one of the valves to be moved to closed position when the other is moved to open position. l

As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the lever 46 is provided with an extension 51 adapted to be engaged by the free end` of a piston rod 52 of a cylinder and piston construction 53 which comprises (see Fig. 5) a hollow cylinder 54 oontaining a piston 55 that extends upwardly through the upper wall of the cylinder through an opening sufcie'ntly large to provide ample relief of air when the piston travels upwardly in the cylinder. There is also suflicient clearance provided between thepiston and the cylinder walls to provide for a relief of air pressure during downward movement of the piston. The cylinder and piston construction 53 receives its operating power from a fluid pressure pipe 56 that leads from the valve mechanisms 20 and 21 as will be hereinafter described.

The valve operating cylinder 53 is effective to move the inlet valve 34 to open position and the exhaust valve 35 to closed position whereby iiuid. pressure will be admitted to the cylinder and piston construction 5 to move the bed or buck 4 upwardly into engagement with the head or chest 2 and the operation of the piston 55 and piston rod 52 is controlled by the two hand control means including valves 20- and 21. Therefore, suitable operator-operated means are provided for moving the valve 34 to closed position and the valve 35 to open position as shown in Fig. 6 wherein fluid pressure may exhaust from the cylinder and piston construction 5 to permit the bed. or buck 4 to move downwardly out of engagement with the head or chest 2. This operator-operated means consists of a rod 57 pivotally connected to one end of the lever 46 and at its opposite end to a lever 58 that is pivotally mounted on the frame as at 59. VA foot treadle 60 isvpivotally mounted on the frame as at 61 and has one free end thereof disposed beneath the free end of the lever 53 whereby when the foot treadle is depressed the free end of the lever 58 with the consequent downward movement of the free end of the lever 47 and movement of the valves 34 and 35 to the positions shown in Fig. 7.

In the operation of the pressing machine, as suming that the parts are in the position shown in Fig. 2 with the padded slide 7 in its normal out of pressingposition, a piece of work is applied to the padded slide which is thenmanually moved inwardly to the position shown in Fig. 4 against the resistance ofthe spring 17 to such position that it will be in alignment with the head or chest 4. This makes the control handles Y 3l and 32 accessible to the operators hands and the operator, while still manually holding the padded slide in the position shown in Fig. 4y say, for example, with his thumbs, applies the iingers of each hand to the handles 31 and 32v and pulls them downwardly to open the valves 20 and 21 which are connected in series with the uid pressure supply pipe 33 by means of pipes 62 and 63 and with the valve operating cylinder and piston construction 53 by means of the pipe 56 whereupon uid pressure will flow through the pipe 63, valve 21, pipe 62, valve 24, and pipe 56 to the cylinder 54 beneath the piston 55 whichwill raise the piston and piston rod so that the piston rod 52 contacts with the free end of the lever or walking beam 46 to raise that and cause the inlet valve 34 to be opened andthe exhaust valve 35 to close. Inasmuch as the valves 20 and 21 are connected in series in the fluid- 4pressure supply line, operationV of one'of` the valves only lwill not elfect closure of the press.

Opening of the inlet valve 34and closing of the exhaust valve 35 will permit uid pressure from the pipe 39 to pass into the cylinder and piston construction 5 as hereinbefore described to raise the piston thereinand the piston rod 6 connected thereto which will lmove the bed or buck 4 and padded slide 7 upwardly and into engagement with the head or chest 4 andvapply pressure therebetween to bring about the desired pressing action on the work carried by the padded slide. Then, the operator may remove the hands from the valve operating handles 31V and 32 and release manual pressure against the padded slide 7.

Upward .movement of the lever or walking beam 46 causes upward movement of the rod 57 which causes the free end of the lever 58 to move downwardly or in a counter-clockwise direction resulting in upward movement of the foot treadle 60. Then, when it is desired to disengage the pressing members by downward movement of the bed or buck 4, the operator may push down on the foot treadle 60 which causes the rod 57 to be moved upwardly and the lever or walking beam 46 to be moved in a counter-clockwise direction on its pivot 4'7 to bring about a closure of the inlet valve 34 and an opening of the exhaust valve35. As hereinbefore described, there .is sufficient leakage around the piston 55 and piston rod 52 to provide for ample relief for downward movement of the piston 55. Thus, by the time the press is ready to be opened, this piston has moved to its normal position shown in Fig. 5 whereupon it will furnish no resistance to the downward movement of the free end of the lever or walking beam 45. Opening of the exhaust valve 35 and closing of the inlet valve 34 ywill permit fluid pressure beneath the piston in the cylinder and piston construction 5 to exhaust through the exhaust pipe 45 which will allow the piston and piston rod 6 as well as the buck or bed 4 to move downwardly so that the members are in the position shown in Fig. 4 by its own weight.

The valves 34 and 35 and the lever or walking beam 46 are held in any position to which they are moved so long as the valves are moved to either full open or full closed position by uid pressure acting against the upper surface of the valves. That is, as shown in Fig. '7, when the inlet valve 34 is in its closed position, the parts are held in the position shown by fluid pressure acting on the top of this valve. Similarly, when the inlet valve 34 is open and the exhaust valve 35 is closed, fluid pressure acts on the top of the exhaust valve 35 to hold the parts in the position to which they have been moved. Thus, a sealing or holding means for the various control parts of the apparatus is provided.

Referring to the drawings and the preceding description, it will be seen that I have provided a pressing machine of a type to not only provide protection against injury to the operators hands during closure of the press but have also provided a pressing machine so Linder the control of the operator that thefdanger of injury to a co-vlorkers hands will be largely minimized if not entirely eliminated. This has been accomplished by providing a pressing machine including one pressing member normally out "of ment with said head, a

ried by said pressing ing members after registry with the other which necessitates that one of the pressing members must be moved to and held in aligned position manually while, at the same time, both hands are required for bringing about closing of the press, the parts being so arranged that both functions may be performed by a single operator. Should manual force against the one pressing member be released before the pressing members are in engagement, this pressing member `will be automatically moved out of registry with the other pressing member which will render the members ineffective as a pressingl means or to cause injury to hands or parts of the body therebetween when the pressing members are in registered position. Thus, the pressing operation is under complete control of the operator and may be stopped `or rendered ineffective instantaneously. Y

What I claim is:

l. Apparatus of the class described comprising, a pressing head and a'pressing bed in registry with each other and movable into and outl of closed position, motor means for moving said head and bed into and out of closed position, a work receiving slide carried by said pressing bed and manually'rnovable into registry therewith, means normally tending to move and maintain said slide out of registry with said pressing members, and spaced two hand control means for the motor means carried on said head, said control means being within reach of the spaced hands of the operator maintaining said slide in registry with said pressing members when the slide has been moved into registry with the members. y

2. Apparatus of ing, a stationary pressing the class described comprishead and a movable pressing bed in registry with each other, motory means'for moving said bed into pressing engagework receiving slide carbed and manually movable into registrytherewith, means normally tending to move and maintain said slide out of registry with said pressing members, spaced two hand control means for the` motor means carried on said head, said control means being within the reach of the spaced hands of the operator maintaining the bed slide in registry with the pressthe slide has been moved into registry therewith, and operator-operated means apartirom said spaced two hand control means for rendering said motor means ineffective to thereby permit opening oi the press.

OSCAR W. JOHNSON. 

